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Red scare in court : New York versus the International Workers Order

"Arthur J. Sabin tells the heartbreaking story of how the IWO, and with it the hopes and dreams of thousands of American working people, was destroyed. It is a very important story, a grim and awful story. It must be read and understood, so that nothing like it will ever happen again"--The Foreword by Howard Fast. For the first and only time in American history, a highly successful, financially stable insurance company was attacked in court because of a singular.

Distinction: its affiliation with the American Communist Party. The year was 1951: the Cold War divided the world, the "hot" war in Korea raged, and Senator Joseph McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover led the U.S. descent into demonology as the domestic battle - the Red Scare - against communists and "subversives" became the national passion. Although radical politics and insurance companies are usually worlds apart, they came together in the form of the International Workers.

Order, which was organized in 1930 and experienced a meteoric rise in membership until the Red Scare era of the 1950s. Offering its insurance programs through its several nationality groups in 18 states and the District of Columbia, the IWO was the first insurance company to charge blacks the same premiums as whites to insure any working person, regardless of occupation, at equal rates. Over one million American moved through membership in the IWO over these years and.

They were subjected to a program of political, economic, and social indoctrination. In a case involving exciting issues and colorful personalities, the State of New York sought to liquidate the IWO on novel grounds: that the majority of its leaders were Communists, therefore constituting a "political hazard" to its members and the public. Until this case, no insurance company had ever been brought into court except for financial "hazard" reasons. Using the testimony of.

Paid political informers, the State of New York depended on the presence of the Red Scare in court to convince judges that this "Frankenstein monster" must be liquidated. The IWO argued they its capitalistic success, not its Communist ties, be the proper legal focus. Red Scare in Court is a meticulously detailed historical account of one of the casualties of the Cold War politics of the 1950s. Arthur J. Sabin has had unprecedented access to the files of both sides, thus.

Foreword / Howard Fast --
I. Cold War --
Red Scare in Perspective --
II. The First Twenty Years --
III. The Place and the Players --
IV. The Formal Hearing --
V. Into Foley Square --
VI. Trial Strategy and the Paid Informer --
VII. Ex-Communist, Ex-IWO Vice-President --
VIII. The State's Case Continues --
IX. The Role of the Press; The State Continues Its Case --
X. Two Anti-Communist Stars --
XI. The Defense Begins --
Haley as Architect --
XII. A Movie, A Founder, and an Administrator --
XIII. An Artist and a Black Activist --
XIV. With the End in Sight --
XV. Judge Greenberg Decides --
XVI. On Appeal --
XVII. To the Supreme Court and Beyond --
XVIII. Retrospectives.

Responsibility:

Arthur J. Sabin ; foreword by Howard Fast.

Abstract:

A meticulously detailed historical account of one of the casualties of the Cold War politics of the 1950s. Arthur J. Sabin has had unprecedented access to the files of both sides, thus providing a rare "behind the scenes" portrait of the case.Read more...

Reviews

Editorial reviews

Publisher Synopsis

"A powerful, well-written book deserving wide readership."-Library Journal "A provocative and carefully researched account of the successful legal and political attack on the International Workers Order by the State of New York in 1951."-Labor History "Sabin has provided a useful reminder of that shameful period in American constitutional and legal history when wholly irrational concerns for internal security drove all three branches of government to substitute the rule of fright for the rule of law. There can never be too many reminders of that period because each reminder helps to insure that such a time will never come again."-Law and Politics Book ReviewRead more...